[INFOGRAPHIC] An Overview of the Principles of Adult Learning

After humming and hawing I decided that my third instructional design/learning themed infographic would be the Principles of Adult Learning. Now, I will be honest and say that while I knew a few principles (adults have experience, adults like control over their learning experiences, etc.) I was lacking in my overall knowledge in that area. Creating an infographic is a great cure to this. I need to research, read articles and gather the appropriate information. Then I have to boil it down to its most simple form and try to find visuals that represent what I am trying to communicate. Anyways, it’s a good learning process.

I thought I would jump online and quickly find the “list” of the 6 adult learning principles, or whatever. No such list exists. After much reading I have come to find out that there is no actual official consensus on what the principles of adult learning are. Many are generally agreed upon, but there is still much theoretical debate going on for each proposed principle.

So here’s my disclaimer: there is no proven adult learning theory and the information in the infographic below is subject to much debate and differing opinions.

This is so much better than “telling” an audience what they came to learn by way of a PowerPoint slide and yawn show. Once the infographic is developed using specific content how is it delivered? Is it a web page for the viewer(s) to scroll through from top to bottom reviewing the infographic material? I am a corporate trainer and having this type of presentation for employee training would be great. Very visual, colorful, and just the opposite of the traditional PowerPoint slide show.

Nice infographic. We believe that education is a lifelong process. We are currently developing an online management system. We can also use this for others to have an idea. Through this simple, yet powerful infographic, we believe that you can empower more people to learn again.

HI Nicole, the way you designed this is brilliant. I try to use these principles as a leader and in past roles when I used to design training and present at conferences. You did a fabulous job capturing it, nice work!

I too like the infographic. It’s the content with which I wish to quibble.

Adults and children do not learn differently. Oh, they are moved by different matters and content (kids and dinosaurs, for example; adults are keen on cars and jobs, for example). But inherently, learning theory is learning theory and adults and children are moved by relevance, action, meaning and application.

Even Malcom Knowles, father of adult learning, came around to see it this way.

I like your infographic on Adult Learning Principles. It is clear and concise and contains great information. I am doing some training with 5 co-workers on Adult Learning principles and would love to use it with them. Would this be okay?

I love this infographic and would like to share the link with my colleagues in my L&D department. But because we’re based in China, most of us can’t access this site without some special software. WordPress is blocked in China you see.

Is there any way you could share this on Linked In or Sina Weibo so the many L&D people in China can access it?